Christmas A Holiday, A Season, or a Lifestyle?

Christmas…A Holiday, A Season, or a Lifestyle?
The angel said to them [the shepherds] “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people”. Luke 2:10

“It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas”…the words to a song I heard on the radio a short time ago. As I was out walking Angel Joy this afternoon, sure enough the song was right. Around the neighborhood many houses were quite festive with their lights, decorations and greenery. It was indeed beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

I wondered though what Christmas really is!! According to the calendar it is a holiday that falls on December 25th. We are not certain as to the real date of Jesus’ birth but it is the day we set aside to commemorate His birth. But is THAT Christmas? Do all of our preparations boil down to a single day out of the year?

Is Christmas a season of the year? We talk about the holiday season. Is Christmas a season that lasts the first four weeks of December and then disappears? Isn’t it nice that during the “Christmas season” people seems to be a little jollier than other times of the year and more festive? Isn’t it nice that there is a little extra kindness and sharing joy and good cheer? “It’s the most wonderful time of the year”…as another song goes. “It’s the hap, happiest season of all.”!! So, according to that song….Christmas is a season.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if Christmas instead of being a twenty-four hour, one day holiday or even a season….which of course extends it further than just twenty-four hours…but still limit its range and scope….that it would be a lifestyle!!

I recently wrote about Thanksgiving being a way of life instead of a mere twenty-four hour holiday. We should be grateful to the Lord every day of the year and not just set aside a table grace before chowing down on a big turkey dinner to give God praise and thanks. Wouldn’t it be nice if Christmas was a lifestyle and not merely a holiday? Wouldn’t it be a wonderful life if the hope, peace, love and joy (the four Sundays of Advent) feeling would be carried out and felt the whole year through? Isn’t it sad that when the ornaments are boxed up and put away that often the Christmas spirit is also? The same joy that just days before filled the air and hearts of many is now a memory.

Christmas decorations are wonderful…I enjoy looking at the pretty lights and decorations. Christmas celebrations are fun. However, Christmas should be a spirit within us three hundred sixty five days a year. According to another Christmas song, “Christmas is a spirit in your heart”….one that is meant to last the whole year through.

Merry Christmas. May the hope, peace, love and joy of the Christmas holiday season become a lifestyle and carry you through whatever trials the New Year brings.

PRAYER: Dear God, as we prepare to celebrate the birth of Your Son Jesus on December 25th may the Christmas spirit fill our hearts and stay with us throughout the coming year…may we have a Christmas lifestyle and not just a Christmas holiday or season. Amen